author
Ralph Werther
b. 1874
One of the earliest known American trans autobiographers, this writer published striking first-person accounts of gender nonconformity and urban queer life in the early 20th century. Writing under the names Ralph Werther, Earl Lind, and Jennie June, he left behind a rare and vivid record of a world that was seldom allowed to speak for itself.
2 Audiobooks
Autobiography of an Androgyne
by Ralph Werther
About the author
Born in 1874, the American author best known as Ralph Werther also wrote under the names Earl Lind and Jennie June. He is remembered as one of the earliest transgender people in the United States to publish autobiographical books, describing his life in language shaped by the medical and social ideas of his era.
His best-known works include The Autobiography of an Androgyne (1918) and The Female-Impersonators (1922). In them, he wrote about gender variance, desire, stigma, and queer subcultures in and around New York, creating an unusually detailed firsthand account of experiences that were rarely documented in print at the time.
Because much of his life remains uncertain, including his birth name and the date of his death, modern readers often know him mainly through those pseudonyms and books. Even so, his writing has become an important source for historians and readers interested in early trans history, queer autobiography, and the hidden social worlds of turn-of-the-century America.